Goku had given up.
It was something that you'd expect to see in a nightmare. Like it couldn't possibly be real.
And yet that was the reality they were living in. Goku had given up in the battle for the fate of the earth.
And in his place, he was sending in-
"Alright Gohan. You're up!" Goku said as he approached his only son, much to the shock of everyone else.
"What!?" Cell scoffed.
"Wh-what did he just say!?" Vegeta gasped, everyone around him looking just as shocked.
"M-Me!?" Gohan looked up at his father as if he expected him to take it back. To say it was all just some weird joke. But Goku's eyes looked completely serious. "You want ME to fight Cell!?"
"Tch. I knew it. I knew from the moment you stepped out of the time chamber and started acting strange, that you had some kind of absurd plan!" Piccolo growled. "If YOU couldn't handle Cell, what makes you think Gohan can, huh?"
"Gohan's hiding way more power than any of us realize. It's downright unreal you guys." Goku answered, seeming completely confident despite the stoicism being thrown his way. "I saw it while we were training in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. I know that THAT power is the only thing that can beat Cell."
"Hmph. That's pretty arrogant of you Goku." Piccolo said
Then he removed his weighted clothes and gave them to Gohan.
"H-Huh!? Mr Piccolo?" Gohan looked up at him confused, as did everyone else.
"Just watch Gohan. I'll take care of this." Piccolo said, before flying up and facing Cell.
"What!?" Once again everyone was shocked.
"Piccolo are you insane!?" Trunks called out.
"Piccolo don't! Gohan is the only one who can do this!" Goku warned.
"M-Mr Piccolo I can fight! You don't need to take my place!" Gohan called out, his voice filled with concern.
"Heheheheh." Cell chuckled, as he looked at Piccolo. "Has fear caused everyone to lose their minds? Do you not remember how our last bout went!? And that was in my imperfect form! How could you possibly think you stand a chance against me now?"
"...Just shut up and watch," Piccolo said, before suddenly, his body exploded with energy. "HAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
Suddenly Piccolo burst into a new form. One with a slightly lighter skin tone, and a few other small differences.
But the increase in power was anything but small, everyone once again looked up at Piccolo in shock, but now for a very different reason.
"T-This power?! How! When did he get this strong!?" Vegeta shouted in shock.
"Holy cow! It feels like he's even stronger than Goku!" Krillin called out.
"Woah! Piccolo, where did this come from?!" Goku asked, finally getting that smug look wiped off his face.
"Mr Piccolo," Gohan said, looking up at him in awe.
"Now this is a surprise." Cell looked shocked for a moment, before returning to his own smug look. "Now where did this come from? I doubt that simply training in the Time Chamber could produce such incredible power. Ahhh. If I do recall correctly, the skies darkened not too long ago. Don't tell me you asked the dragon for this power?"
"And what if I did?" Piccolo asked.
"Then I have to say, you're more pathetic than I thought." Cell laughed. "Begging for power, and then showing it off like you earned any of it."
"You're the last person I want to hear that from! Everything about you, down to the cells in your body, was stolen from someone else! Be it our stolen DNA or all the power you took from the Androids. Nothing about you was earned." Piccolo scoffed, before looking down at his arms and frowning. "Although I can't say you're wrong. Gaining power like this is pathetic."
Then he clenched his fist. "But is it more pathetic than just standing on the sidelines, waiting for Goku to fix all our problems? I don't think so. Now enough talk!"
With that Piccolo rushed in at Cell, delivering a chop to the neck, that sent Cell to the ground, sliding across the dirt, before crashing into a giant rock.
Piccolo then launched a massive ki blast at Cell, while he was standing back up.
Cell threw back his fingers, before throwing them forward, and unleashing a small energy blast from them. "Dodon Ray!"
The ray pierced through the larger blast, destroying it before continuing up towards Piccolo.
Piccolo tilted his head to the side, and let the attack fly past his shoulder and neck, before rushing down towards Cell.
The two met, and exchanged a flurry of blows, attacking and blocking at superb speeds.
And slowly, Cell was getting pushed back, until his back was literally against the wall.
Then Piccolo landed a powerful punch to Cell's face, sending him flying through the plateau.
And when Cell exited the other side, Piccolo was already there, his palm in Cell's face.
BRRRRMMMMMM!
Piccolo shot out a massive wave of ki, that consumed Cell and wiped away that entire plateau.
Cell burst out of the blast, with a fair amount of wounds on him, and formed his hands into a triangle. "Neo Tri-Beam! HA"!
Seeing the mass of energy coming right at him, Piccolo quickly dodged to the side, just barely dodging in time, as the attack slammed into the ground, creating a giant square hole.
"HA! HA! HA!" Cell continued attacking, shooting out Tri Beams which Piccolo narrowly dodged by flying to the side.
Piccolo shot out his arm, stretching it up at Cell and grabbing his leg, before recalling it back while throwing Cell at another mountain.
Cell powered up, destroying the mountain he was thrown into, before raising his right arm, opening his palm, and grabbing his forearm with his left arm, creating a ball of ki above his hand. "Spirit Ball!"
The android threw the ball at Piccolo, but instead of dodging it, the powered-up Namekian grabbed the Spirit Ball with both hands.
"Haaaaaaaaaaaa!" Piccolo started putting pressure on the ball, focusing his power. "HA!"
With one final push, Piccolo crushed the Spirit Ball with his bare hands, before rushing back towards Cell.
Piccolo tried to attack Cell, but Cell grabbed both of Piccolo's arms.
Then two more arms grew out of Cell's back and started mercilessly beating on Piccolo's face.
But after a few punches, Piccolo looked at Cell, opened his mouth, and shot a powerful blast from his mouth, destroying Cell's head, and causing Cell's grip to loosen, releasing Piccolo's arms.
Immediately Piccolo ripped off the extra arms and then drop-kicked Cell's headless body to the ground.
Cell tumbled across the ground for a while, until his head grew back, and he dug his hand and feet into the dirt, eventually managing to stop himself.
Piccolo then started shooting down a barrage of Ki Blasts at Cell, and Cell started deflecting and batting away.
Until suddenly, Cell noticed that there was energy all around him, and looked around to see the ki balls, lined up all around him.
"Tch! Ha!" Cell up a green ki barrarer around him, to block the oncoming attack.
"That won't work this time! Super Hellzone Grenade!" Piccolo threw down his arms,
The blasts slammed into Cell's barrier, but instead of exploding on contact, they started digging into the barrier at every angle, trying to burrow through it.
CRACK! CRACK!
Slowly but surely, the blasts were creating cracks in the barrier.
Cell made his barrier smaller, forcing more power into it to repair the cracks.
This seemed to work, keeping the attack at bay for a little while longer.
Now how to get out of this? Cell pondered as he struggled to maintain the barrier. Perhaps I could copy Goku's Instant Transmission and-
And then he felt it. Piccolo's power rose to astronomical heights. Hitting Cell's senses like a truck.
He looked up, past the barrier at Piccolo, only to find him with his fingers to his forehead.
"Special Beam!" Piccolo shouted, before throwing out his arm and firing a spiral drill-like beam from his fingers at Cell. "Canon!"
The beam instantly broke through Cell's barrier, shattering it like glass, before piercing through Cell, and breaking through the other end.
With that, the ki balls smashed through what was left of the barrier and rushed right at Cell.
KABOOM!
The blasts connected all at once, creating an utterly massive explosion, the force of which destroyed all the mountains around them, and forced everyone but Gohan to cover their faces.
Back with Piccolo, he stared at the massive cloud of smoke that was created from his attack, and just waited, Slowly descending to the ground.
Eventually, the smoke faded, revealing what was left of Cell.
The Android had been heavily damaged. His crown had been almost completely destroyed, he was covered in burns, cuts, and bruises, and he was missing half of his left arm and a quarter of his right leg. He also still had the hole in his abdomen from the special beam cannon.
"Woah! He's doing it! He's really beating him!" Krillin cheered.
"Piccolo was around the same strength as Cell, but Cell was already tired from his fight with me," Goku explained. "The fight was pretty much over as soon as it started. It's actually a little unfair."
"Hmph! Defeating a tired opponent, with unearned power. How pathetic." Vegeta scoffed.
"PIccolo! Finish him!" Trunks cheered.
"No. No...I can't be defeated! It's impossible!" Cell growled, raising up his one good arm, and pointing his finger into the air, before pouring power into it, creating a dark purple ball of ki. Frieza's Death Ball. He poured every bit of power he had left into this attack and then threw it at Piccolo. "DIE!"
"Hmph. We're done here." Piccolo got into a stance and put his hands over his abdomen, bringing them together and forcing Ki through his arms into his hands, forming a ball of Ki in his hands. "You won't survive this time! Light Grande!"
Piccolo thrust his hands forward, shooting out that ki ball which turned into a massive wave of ki as soon as it left his hand. Rushing right at Cell.
It swallowed the Death Ball and continued on towards Cell, who could do nothing but look at it in horror, before getting engulfed.
Light Grande erupted, exploding and creating a massive wave of light. So bright it could be seen from space.
Everyone closed their eyes to keep from being blinded.
Once everything died down, and the light faded, all that was left of the area Piccolo had attacked, was a giant smoking crater.
"He did it!" Gohan cheered with a huge smile on his face, as he and everyone else flew towards Piccolo. "Mr Piccolo."
Piccolo turned to meet everyone and smiled as Gohan approached it. "I told you I'd handle it."
"Yeah, I guess I was wrong. Gohan wasn't the only one who could defeat Cell." Goku admitted sheepishly. "Although you did cheat a bit."
"Shut up. I don't wanna hear that from a Saiyan!" Piccolo growled.
"And that's supposed to be me exactly?" Vegeta said glaring daggers at Piccolo.
"It means I don't wanna hear anything about unearned power when you guys get stronger every time you lose," Piccolo answered.
"It's over! It's finally over!" Trunks celebrated, looking as if he was on the verge of tears. "The Nightmare is finally over!"
BOOM!
Suddenly there was an explosion of power, as a pillar of light erupted from the smoking crater like a geyser.
Everyone froze up in shock, as they suddenly felt Cell's power return, but this time far stronger.
Before anyone could react, a death beam shot out of the smoke, hitting Trunks right in the chest, and piercing through his body with ease.
"Agh! GAH!" Blood shot out of Trunk's mouth, as he fell back onto the ground, his body immediately going limp when he landed.
Vegeta looked at his son as he fell to the ground. His pupils shrank as a feeling he'd never quite felt before welled up inside him.
"Heh heh heh. Looks like I hit Trunks." The smoke cleared, revealing Cell, now completely healed, and stronger than ever. Looking at all of them smugly. "You're probably wondering why I'm still alive. Allow me to explain. You see, there is a small mass inside of me. A special cell. And so long as that mass is not destroyed, I will continue to regenerate. As for this boost in strength, if I had to guess, this comes from the Saiyan's ability to grow stronger after near-death experiences. You thought you had killed me Piccolo, but in truth, you've only made me stronger!"
"Damn it all!" Piccolo growled as he got ready to jump back into the fight.
Meanwhile, Vegeta hadn't heard a single thing Cell had said. The whole world faded away, and all he was able to focus on was Trunks, and that unknown feeling inside him.
No, he knew that feeling. Rage. Something he should be all too familiar with. But this time it felt different. And his inability to pinpoint why he felt this way only made him even angrier.
All this anger built up, more and more, until. It exploded.
BOOM!
Vegeta exploded into Super Saiyan and rushed towards Cell before anyone could stop him. "YOU BASTARD!"
"Vegeta no!" Goku called out.
He flew up and started throwing down Ki blasts at Cell like there was no tomorrow, each blast so powerful it created a massive explosion that shook the earth.
"YOU'RE AS GOOD AS DEAD!" Vegeta threw everything he had into one last ball of Ki and tossed it at Cell. The blast landed and exploded into a massive tornado of energy.
Vegeta caught his breath as he saw the energy die down, turning into a cloud of smoke.
And then a Destructo Disk flew out of the smoke, aimed right for Vegeta's head.
But just before Vegeta's head got split in half, Gohan rushed in and pushed him out of the way.
Only for his arm to get cut off instead.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Gohan cried as he held up the stump of what was left of his arm.
"GOHAN!" Goku shouted out, as he went out and caught his son.
"Heh heh heh. And you were so confident in his ability to defeat me." Cell smirked, staring confidently at Goku, unharmed by Vegeta's attacks. "Tell me, do you still think that now Goku?"
"Don't get so cocky!" Piccolo powered up, and rushed in at Cell.
Piccolo unleashed a flurry of punches and kicks at Cell, and Cell blocked and deflected all of his attacks, before kicking him in the jaw, sending him flying upwards, flipping in the air.
Cell appeared above him, and slammed his elbow into Piccolo's back.
"AGH!" Piccolo coughed up blood, as he felt Cell nearly snap his spine.
SLAM!
Piccolo was spiked down into the ground, creating an eruption of dirt and dust.
Cell stared down at the cloud of debris smugly, and then Piccolo's extended arms rose up and tried to grab his feet. Only for Cell to kick them away, flip in mid-air so he was facing down, and shoot out two energy blasts at Piccolo's arms, destroying most of them.
Piccolo recalled his half-destroyed arms back, and quickly regenerated them, before glaring at Cell.
Cell casually raised his fingers, and started shooting down death beams at Piccolo.
Piccolo deflected them, batting them away, before flying up, above Cell, and then rushed down at him, spinning and then attempting to kick his head from above.
Cell caught Piccolo's foot, and then started spinning around, extremely quickly. A tornado formed around them, pulling in wind and making everyone struggle not to get sucked in.
After a few moments, Cell threw Piccolo away with one hand, before quickly charging a ki blast in the other, and sending it after Piccolo.
Piccolo crashed into a mountain, and then the ki blast landed in the hole he created.
KABOOM!
A massive explosion erupted from the mountain, destroying it completely and shaking the earth, leaving a massive cloud of dust in its wake.
"This isn't good! Piccolo can't keep up with Cell anymore!" Krillin pointed out.
"Cell has completely replenished his energy, and on top of that he's harnessed even greater power." Android 16 explained. "Piccolo's power only slightly surpassed Cell before when he was at full strength. Now Cell has clearly surpassed him."
"Damn it all!" Vegeta growled.
Meanwhile, Yamcha had finally gotten Trunks to eat the Senzu Bean. "Hey everyone! Trunk's is gonna be ok! But he's still unconscious."
"Grrrrr." Trunks grunted in his sleep, as his hand twitched.
Back with Cell, he casually floated towards the smoking crater that was once the mountain he'd launched Piccolo into. His arms crossed as he landed on the ground. "Had enough? Why don't you concede like Goku did? It's obvious you can't beat me."
"Hmph. Don't be so sure." Said Piccolo's voice from within the dust cloud.
Suddenly Piccolo's power surged, forcing away the dust, and revealing Piccolo, with a small jar in front of him. "Evil Containment!"
A green vortex formed around Piccolo, and shot out at Cell.
"Wait! The Evil Containment Wave!?" Krillin cried out in shock.
"He must have figured something like this would happen, and brought a bottle along with him just in case!" Tien deduced.
16 just looked on at the attack, before looking at Goku, whose fingers were already on his forehead. 16 quickly grabbed Goku's shoulder, and Goku stopped and looked at 16 in surprise.
The android gave him a determined look, and Goku gave him an "Are you sure" look, and 16 nodded.
Meanwhile, Cell was facing down the Evil Containment Wave rushing towards him, his eyes widened for a second.
And then he smirked.
Then Cell put his hands forward, and caught the vortex in his hands, before raising it over his head.
"Huh!?" Piccolo's eyes widened in shock and fear.
"Ha Ha ha! Did you forget! You invented a technique, specifically to counter this move!" Cell laughed. "And as I have your cells, I have this technique as well! Now then! Prepared to be sealed again! Demon King Piccolo! HA!"
Cell threw the vortex back at Piccolo, who could do nothing but watch as it quickly approached him.
Then, Goku and 16 appeared in front of him, using Instant Transmission, before Goku vanished using that same technique.
"What! 16!?" Piccolo shouted out in shock.
In the next moment, 16 was grabbed up by the energy wave, his body turned into energy, rendering him helpless to do anything but follow the flow.
"Ha!" Cell shot his hands down, and slammed 16 into the bottle next to Piccolo's feet.
Piccolo quickly tried to crush the bottle to release 16, but Cell, using Frieza's telekinesis, made the bottle move towards him, taking that as well as the cork and seal that were hidden in Piccolo's belt.
Cell corked the bottle, and added the seal.
"N-No! 16!" Krillin cried out.
Goku Instant Transmission back to the group. "16 chose to get himself caught in that attack. So that way Piccolo could keep fighting."
"S-Sixteen." Gohan looked on in horror.
"Heh heh heh. So that miserable waste of parts tried to make himself useful by shielding you from your own stupidity." Cell chuckled as he held the bottle. "A noble sacrifice. But one done in vain."
Cell tossed the bottle into the air, and pointed his finger at it. "HUH!"
Suddenly, the bottle exploded, into earthshaking fireworks.
Robotic parts rained down from the sky, the last of which was a chip, whose light died out as soon as it hit the ground.
"16!" Krillian cried out again.
"N-no!" Gohan shut his eyes in anguish.
"Damn it!" Piccolo fell to his knees and punched the ground. "I can't believe I forgot one of my own techniques!"
Piccolo burst towards Cell, with explosive speed. "I'll make you pay for that!"
The Namekian threw a punch right at Cell's head, but Cell tilted his head to the side, dodging the punch, before headbutting Piccolo, sending him stumbling back.
Cell got into another familiar pose, putting his hands into a claw-like shape. "Neo! Wolf Fang Fist!"
The insect-like android, unleashed a flurry of rapid blows all across Piccolo's head, neck, chest, and stomach, before bringing his hands together, and unleashing one final powerful blow, to Piccolo's chest.
BOOM!
Piccolo was sent flying back, tumbling across the ground, then skidding across it, before finally coming to a stop. Face first in the ground.
"Ug-Uhh." Piccolo grounded, as he forced his battered and beaten body up off the ground.
"...Yamcha. How many Senzu Beans do we have left?" Goku asked.
"Huh? Oh uh, well I gave one to Trunks, and one to Gohan after he got his arm cut off. So. Just two." Yamcha said.
"Perfect! Give me them!" Goku said.
Yamcha shrugged, figuring Goku had a plan, and tossed him the bag.
Goku took out one Senzu Bean and ate it. His aura flared up, as he returned to full strength. "Alright! Vegeta! Remember that attack you used on Cell earlier? Try it again!"
"What!?" Krillin gave him a questioning look. "But that attack didn't even work the last time! Cell dodged it! Plus he's even stronger now! There's no way that'll work."
"Trust me! I have a plan!" Goku said, looking at Vegeta, who was looking away from him. "We're gonna need to give it all we've got to beat Cell! Please, Vegeta, I need your help!"
"...Fine." Vegeta agreed. "But we have one shot at this Kakarot. Don't waste it."
"I won't," Goku told him, before looking back at Piccolo. "Piccolo. Just hold out, a little bit longer."
"Hmmmm. You know Piccolo. Looking at you makes me wonder something." Cell said.
Suddenly, Cell's body started bulging, then expanding, as Cell grew and grew, and grew. Until Piccolo was standing in the shadow of the now building-sized Cell.
"Tch, he really is taking me lightly," Piccolo grunted.
Cell raised his foot to try and stomp on Piccolo, but Piccolo dashed forward and dodged it, positing himself behind Cell, and throwing a Ki blast at one of the joints in Cell's leg, forcing him to fall onto his knee.
"Hmph." Cell turned his head, and shot beams out of his eyes at Piccolo, which Piccolo jumped to the side to dodge, before throwing a ki blast into Cell's eyes.
"Agh!" Cell shook his head trying to recover his eyesight, a few seconds later he regained his vision, only to find that Piccolo was gone. And he couldn't sense him. "Now where did you run off to-"
Suddenly, Piccolo, from behind a rock, tore off one of his arms and threw it into Cell's mouth.
"Pah! Ugh!" Cell tried to swallow it, but only ended up swallowing the arm. "Did you just throw your arm into my-oaf!"
Suddenly, Cell felt immense pain, as Piccolo's arm started shooting off ki blasts from inside him, tearing up his softer, more vulnerable insides.
"UGHHH!" Cell groaned in pain. He then shoved one of his arms down his mouth and started trying to grab Piccolo's arm. It took a bit since his hand was so big, but eventually, he managed to grab it. But as Cell was pulling it out, Piccolo's disembodied arm extended and dug its claws into Cell.
Cell kept pulling up, but Piccolo's arm kept extending, all the while shooting ki blast out of the palm. Eventually, the arm could extend no more and Cell pulled it all out of him.
The arm now looked like a massive green fire hose, the length of the average city, all bunched up at his feet.
Cell grabbed the stretched-out arm, and frustratedly threw it into space, before looking around for Piccolo, absolutely pissed. "Where are you you little green-"
BRRRRRRRRRRRR!
Suddenly, the special beam cannon shot out from behind a rock, piercing straight through it and slamming the black part of Cell's head, cracking it, but not piercing through.
"GRRRR BWAHHHH!" Cell shot out a huge beam from his mouth at the mountain Piccolo was hiding behind.
Piccolo stopped his attack and rushed out from behind the Mountain, barely getting out of the blast range in time as the beam slammed into the mountain, utterly obliterating it.
But the moment Piccolo was out in the open, Cell extended his arm, and grabbed Piccolo, before bringing the Namekian back to him.
"Got you!" Cell smiled sadistically, as he squeezed Piccolo's entire body in his palm.
"GAHHHHHHHHH!" Piccolo screamed out in pain, as he felt his entire body getting crushed. "BWAHHH!"
Piccolo shot his own beam from his mouth, hitting Cell's face and getting in his eyes.
"Gah! Again!" As Cell was once again taken off guard, and grip weakened.
Piccolo's own body began to expand, getting larger until Cell could no longer keep a grip on him before he shrunk back down and fell to the ground.
"Grrrr." Cell scowled, as he too shrunk back down to normal size. "I can see why you never used that ever again. It is the definition of useless."
Meanwhile, Piccolo was just trying to keep standing, breathing heavily as he faced Cell.
"Well then." Cell aimed his hand at Piccolo. "I don't think there's any reason to drag this out"
And suddenly it hit them. The feeling of a large amount of power being charged.
The two of them looked to the side, and saw Vegeta, charging his Final Flash.
"Now what does he think he's doing?" Cell asked himself, not feeling at all threatened.
Piccolo's eyes widened, and he quickly flew out of the range of Vegeta's attack.
"This time you won't get away!" Vegeta shouted. "FINAL FLASH!"
BRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
Vegeta launched an absolutely massive yellow beam out at Cell, using everything he had.
And Cell just dashed to the left, dodging the attack. "Ahahaha! What was that about me not getting a-"
Then Goku appeared next to him, with the Kamehameha he'd been charging. "HA!"
Goku slammed the Kamehameha into Cell, the beam shooting out, and pushing him into Vegeta's Final Flash, forcing Cell to take both attacks simultaneously.
"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Vegeta and Goku both screamed, as they poured everything they had into that attack.
"Kaioken!" Goku shouted, as a bright red aura overtook him, and his beam grew even larger
"The Kaioken!" Piccolo gasped from the side. "That idiot! He's going to kill himself."
"Mr Piccolo!" Gohan flew over to Piccolo and handed him a Senzu Bean. "Here!"
"Save it! Your dad's gonna need it." Piccolo told him.
"No Mr Piccolo! We need you at full power to finish him off!" Gohan told him firmly. "Vegeta and Dad are going to try and exhaust him as much as they can, but if we can't destroy him completely after that, then he'll just keep getting stronger! So you and I are gonna use everything we have, and finally end this!"
Piccolo looked over Gohan. He was shaking. Scared. How could he not be? He was just an 11-year-old boy, and his father was about to be on death's door, he'd just lost an arm, and now he'd have to help finish off the greatest threat the world had ever known.
There was doubt in his eyes. Doubt in his own abilities. Doubt that they'd be able to pull this off.
And yet here he stood, determined to see this to the end.
Piccolo sighed, and took the Senzu Bean, eating it, and immediately restoring himself to full health and power. Then he put a hand on Gohan's shoulder. "Gohan. Don't hold anything back."
"R-Right." Gohan nodded.
At this time, Vegeta and Goku finally ran out of steam, and their beams faded, leaving nothing but smoke.
The two of them collapsed to the ground, returning to base form.
"Ack!" Goku started coughing up blood, immense pain filling his nervous system as the consequences of using Kaioken and Super Saiyan hit him hard.
"Did they do it!?" Krillin asked, looking at the smoke cloud. "Did they kill Cell?"
Slowly, the cloud started to dissipate, until Cell was visible.
He'd lost the entire lower part of his body and an arm, and once again his crown was broken, as well as half of his face missing.
And he looked absolutely livid.
"HAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Cell cried out, as he forcibly regenerated everything that had been lost or damaged. "I hope that was satisfying. Because now you die!"
Cell raised his finger, and was about to charge up a Supernova, but then Piccolo came in, and kicked him in the face, sending him flying.
The android slammed into the earth, landing on his feet and stopping himself before he could fly much farther. "That's it! ENOUGH!"
Cell cocked his hands back, and started charging up. "I've had enough! I'm ending this now! Kame! Hame!"
"Gohan!" Piccolo called as he landed, Gohan rushing to his side.
Both of them raised their hands(or hand in Gohan's case) over their heads, charging up their own attacks.
"You and the earth! Will be destroyed!" Cell shouted, before thrusting his hands forward, shooting out a massive blue beam. "HA!"
"Maskeno!" Piccolo and Gohan shouted as they shot their own massive beams that combined into one.
The two beams rushed towards each other, and collided, stopping each other dead in their tracks for a moment, before Cell's beam slowly started pushing it back.
"Heh heh heh! Behold the power of perfection!" Cell cried, wearing a victorious look on his face.
"Gaaahhh! He's still…too strong!" Gohan shouted as he tried his hardest to push out as much power as possible. "I'm sorry Mr Piccolo!"
"Don't apologize! Just push harder!" Piccolo grunted as he did the same thing as Gohan.
"It's no good! Even after Vegeta and Goku softened him up, he's just too strong!" Krillin said.
"Ugh."
The three humans looked behind them and saw Trunks finally waking up.
"Trunks!" Krillin ran up to check on him. "You're awake."
"Yeah, I'm-" Immediately Trunks looked up, and noticed the massive beam struggle happening right in front of him.
Cell's beam getting closer and closer and Gohan and Piccolo struggled to hold it off.
Gohan, standing there in Super Saiyan, with one arm. About to die.
An image of his teacher flashes in Trunk's mind.
BOOM!
Instantly Trunks burst into Super Saiyan and rushed towards their side.
Trunks landed next to Gohan and raised his hands. "Masenko!"
A third beam was added to the mix, making the combined beam even bigger, and stopping Cell's beam once again.
"Trunks! It looks like you woke up just in time to see your world turn to ash!" Cell laughed maniacally. "Oh, it looks like your premature visit to death's door gave you a bit of a power-up. I hope you don't think it'll be enough to beat me!"
Cell's beam started slowly progressing towards them again, slower than before, but still not stopping.
"I won't let this go the same way as before!" Trunks said. "I won't let another timeline go to ruin! I will! I will change the future!"
Suddenly Trunks's muscles expanded, as he once again assumed his bulky form.
"Did you learn nothing!? That form is useless!" Cell laughed.
"I wonder how useless it is when my opponent can't move!" Trunks shouted. "HAAAAAAAAAA!"
Suddenly, Cell's beam stopped moving forward.
Cell's cocky look turned into a scowl, as he kept trying to push the beam forward, but to no avail. "Damn it! Why won't you die!"
Both sides kept pushing, but the beams didn't move one way or the other, putting both sides at a stalemate.
"Guys, we have to do something!" Krillin called out to his fellow earthlings. "If nothing changes then eventually those three are gonna exhaust themselves!"
"But…what can we do?" Yamcha asked, looking confused.
"We're too damn weak to even bother Cell. Let alone help take him down!" Tien growled, lamenting his own weakness.
"Wait! What about the Tri-Beam!" Krillin pointed out. "You were able to stop his second form like that, and there was a huge gap in power between you two!"
"Yeah, but that was his second form. He's way too strong for that now." Tien pointed out.
"Well, what if we did it together!?" Krillin asked. "All three of us, putting our power into that attack at once!"
"That…I don't know." Tien thought about it for a second, before giving them a serious look. "It might make him stumble a little. But we might be giving up our lives for that."
"Even just that might give them the opening they need to end this!" Krillin said. "It's better than doing nothing."
"Well, if we lose we die anyway. So I guess it's worth a shot." Yamcha said. "I'm in!"
"...Alright. But follow my instructions exactly!" Tien told them.
Meanwhile, Piccolo, Gohan, and Trunks were still giving everything they had to try and push back Cell's Kamehameha.
"M-Mr Piccolo! It feels like I'm losing my grip!" Gohan gasped.
Suddenly Cell's beam started pushing back there's a little bit.
"Damn it this isn't working!" Piccolo shouted.
"Ahahaha! Ahahahaha! Yes! Yes! Yes!" Cell gave off an insane smile. "Say goodbye! Huh!?"
And that's when Cell noticed that he had a shadow over him. Meaning something or someone was flying above him.
Cell looked up, and saw Yamcha, Tien, and Krillin above him, holding hands forming a triangle in the center of them, right over Cell. "What are they-"
"Are you ready!" Tien shouted. "It's now or never!"
"Right!" Krillin and Yamacha shouted.
Then all three of them did exactly as Tien instructed, controlling and pouring the ki in the exact way to get this to work.
"Now!" Tien shouted.
"GRAND! TRI BEAM! HA!" All three of them shouted as an intense blast of Ki shot out from the triangle, down onto Cell.
BOOM!
The blast slammed into Cell, its power causing him to flinch.
Suddenly, Masenko started to push back Cell's beam.
"Yamcha! Tien! Krillin!" Gohan smiled up at his friends, a feeling of hope filling his chest for the first time since Cell came back.
"They're giving us a chance! We can't waste it!" Piccolo shouted.
"HAAAAAAAAA!" All three of them shouted as they continued to push, slowly pushing Cell's beam back.
"No!" Cell growled as he regained his composure, and stopped their beam from progressing for a moment.
BOOM!
And then he was hit by another blast from the Grand Tri-Beam, once again causing him to flinch, allowing the beam to keep moving forward.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
With each blast of the Grand Tribeam, the Masenko crawled forward towards Cell, a little bit faster.
Until it was almost up in his face, only barely being blocked by Cell's beam.
"No! NO! NOOOOOOOOOOO!" Cell tried to push it back, but he couldn't, he could do nothing to stop what would happen next.
"EVERYONE ALL TOGETHER!" Piccolo shouted as loud as he could.
"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
On the verge of victory, everyone pulled out more power than they knew they had, simultaneously pouring all that power into one final assault.
KABOOM!
The earthlings poured everything they could into their most powerful blast yet, that hit just as Piccolo, Gohan, and Trunks, pushed through their limits and pushed the Masenko even further.
Cell was overwhelmed. He was overpowered, and in a flash, he was engulfed in the Masenko.
It happened in less than a second, but for Cell, it felt like forever. His body was broken down and destroyed bit by bit, down to the cellular level.
And when his nucleus was destroyed, Cell was no more.
BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
The beam continued on, running off the edge of the earth, and blasting into space.
A few seconds later, the blast dissipated, turning into nothing.
Gohan and Trunks immediately faded out of Super Saiyan and fell to the ground, with Piccolo also going back to his base form, and falling onto one knee.
The earthlings all immediately collapsed, falling out of the sky and onto the ground below.
"Gohan…Trunks…you did good." Piccolo said while gasping for air.
"Is it over? Is it really over?" Trunks asked, also gasping.
Piccolo paused and focused on his senses.
Goku was in bad shape, but he'd live. He'd only used Kaioken for a second, and he didn't use any higher multipliers. He still wouldn't be moving around anytime within the next few months. But he'd recover.
Vegeta was mostly fine. The earthlings would need to see Dende soon, and both Gohan and Trunks would be fine.
And Cell.
Piccolo focused every sense he had to try and pick up on if Cell survived. His ki sensing, his hearing, his telepathy.
Nothing.
Still, he waited a few moments. Nervously hoping Cell wouldn't come back out of nowhere once again.
But there was nothing.
Piccolo smiled. "Yeah, we won."
Oh boy, this was a big one.
So let's address some things. Firstly, where was Mr Satan and everyone else?
Doesn't matter. I didn't really feel like writing them, and aside from Mr Satan not throwing 16's head, nothing changes with them much.
Second, why no Orange Piccolo or Ssj 2 Gohan/Trunks? Well because I don't want any stomps. Stomps can be fun to watch, not so much to read, and even less interesting to write. So I try to avoid them.
I could address a few more things, but I don't want/feel the need to. As that would go on forever and this chapter is already long enough.
Please review and have a nice day.